Author Jason Randall will be speaking at two local Trout Unlimited chapters this week. At the Oak Brook Chapter (2/17/16, 7 PM) the topic will be ‘Where Trout Are’ and at the Lee Wolff Chapter in Carpentersville (2/18/16, 7:30 PM) the topic will be ‘What Trout See’.

Jason has been an outdoor writer for the last twelve years with feature articles appearing regularly in American Angler,as well as Fly Fisherman, Eastern Fly Fishing, Western Fly Fishing and many other outdoor magazines. He is a veterinarian certified in fish health and medicine. He is also member of the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association and the Society for Freshwater Science.

His trout trilogy has been extremely well received by the fly fishing industry including some highly recognizable names, and has been called a must read by many. A fourth book on nymphing techniques is due out in early 2017.

Another of Lance Egan’s creations, the Iron Lotus is a mayfly nymph imitation designed to be tough and drop quickly through the water column. With a tungsten bead and lead wire it is heavily weighted for it’s size. The streamlined thread body (usually olive or brown) is dense and offers little resistance as it falls. The Coq de Leon tail is more durable than one of pheasant tail fibers. Add in the glued body and you can bounce it off of rocks all day long.

The Iron Lotus can be fished in multiple ways. Use it as an anchor fly in the small spring creeks of the Driftless Area combined with a scud dropper. Or tie it in as a dropper with a larger Czech nymph as the anchor for the deeper faster waters of the west. And don’t forget to drift it under an indicator.

Midges can be as high as 80 percent of a trout’s diet and are found in ponds, lake, streams and rivers. With winter being here, there just aren’t too many other insects that are active and their importance in the food chain increases, especially in tailwaters. Colors for bloodworms can vary from bright red (low oxygen tailwaters) to more blueish green (highly oxygenated spring creeks).

It is a simple pattern to tie, just a bead (glass, brass, tungsten) some thread and a wire. Anyone can tie it and the techniques used help to build the foundation for other patterns. It is most commonly tied in black or red followed by various shades of olive and brown. The body shape can be tapered or a uniform slim profile.

The Zebra Midge can imitate a larva crawling down on the bottom or an emerger as it rises. The bead can give it the weight to get down or appear to be the gas bubble. This means you can fish it anywhere in the water column. Down on the bottom in an Euro nymphing rig or under an indicator or with a foot or so of the surface in a hopper / dropper set up.

Want to use a straight hook instead of curved, tie in some herl, yarn or flash and call it something else, go ahead, underneath beats the heart of a Zebra Midge.

This fly and various color variations can be purchased in our online store.